The Circle of Mistrust
by squalmasy
Summary: (AU RS)R is the good boy with bad habits, and S is the hated-by-all Goth. They're mortal enemies now, but it wasn't always that way-and a little part of them wants it to go back to how it was before. RSmain, LC, SelphWakka &others (Chapter 3)
1. The Circumstances

**This is a terrible idea. This is basically same format as the Gossip Girl novels by von Ziegesar.**

**Anyway, I felt like it, so what? Please review! Lolol I'm really hyper. Also if you haven't read SoM, then read it now because I WILL UPDATE IT.**

**And it's all uphill from here, man! Gosh, I don't have to write reviewer responses, do I? Yay!**

**Disclaimer: This style of story telling is so deliberately stolen from the author of GG that I MUST disclaim it. Anyway, I don't own any characters in this story, not even the parents that I made up. Make sense? **

**Good. **

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Hey Everyone-Welcome to The Circle of (Mis)Trust.

Superlong Welcome Back Edition: Summer Vacation's Over!

11th grade: sounds scary, right? Well, we're all glad to say: the first day came and went, and it's not as bad as they said! Now it's time to sit back and watch our lives slowly rip apart. Boy though, gossip sure does live! And if that's what you're after, then you've come to the right place for sure. This is the scoop of the first day of 11th grade here at public-school-for-rich-kids, La Quinta High School. Enjoy, and by all means, contribute!

Who would have known that total-hottie-of-10th-grade and over privileged hunk would turn out to be the total-hottie-of-11th-grade and cocky over privileged hunk? Definitely me! The mentioned eye-candy whom we all know and love (not!), **R**, confirmed rumours today of a summer fling with the queen-bee **K. **And-oh, no! He's still dating her!

Even though none of us are supposedly hot enough to even bee 500 feet within **R**'s presence, we still love to entertain fantasies of the silver-haired sex god. And anyway, what's **K** got that I don't? I know! Ownership of the city's championship basketball team and a pink pony (is it from Oz or did they just dye it that way? Ha, ha.) The world is just so unfair!

**K** takes the role of daddy's girl on so well for the adults, but what they don't know is how her skirt is so deliberately hitched up 5 inches after those nasty old men can't see her.

But honestly-we so wouldn't put it past her to sell herself out like that anyway, just for some attention. Blech.

Looks like **W **and **ST**'s relationship is on the rocks now-and they were so the match made in heaven! Apparently both of them have let a wandering eye to other...options.

**W **has discovered the hot new girl, **Y**, and **ST **has discovered said new girl's hot brother, **A**. Even though it's totally obvious that **A** is gay (even after only one day at school) and it looks more like **A** is into **ST's **also gay brother, **T!** Hold onto that though, though.

Just seems like **W** and **ST** refuse to break up on some hope that their love still lives. Ha! Whatever, right?

Something tells me that rather than liking a manly man (**A**), **T** has had his eyes on **S** all summer. I wonder why, though? **S** is like, the worst loser, always picked on by **R** (and believe me, you NEVER want to speak to someone who's picked on by **R** because guess what? You're next!).

Seriously though, if that gets out, **T**'s super elite ranking could be demolished by like, a mile and a half. **R** was already totally pissed about the rumour that's been circulating about **T** and **S**-hmm, I wonder why though? (cue tittering audience.)

Just kidding. Since **T** and **R** are best guy friends, I'm sure that **R** just doesn't want to be associated with the serious nobody, **S**. Unless those other rumours about **R**'s _preferences_ turned out to really be true...but I'll just leave that part up to your imagination:)

Then there is the newest and coolest talk of the town, **L** and **C**. Those two are so utterly delectable that they could easily outrank **R** in terms of being the king of the grade, but since they both refuse to associate with idiots like us, they are just so much hotter (much to **R**'s dismay. Again, cue tittering audience.)

Of course we saw **L** and **C**'s relationship coming, after the "tragic" murder of **C**'s girlfriend of 3 years, **AG**. As if it was so tragic that she was killed! She was the biggest pain in the ass!

But seriously, **C**'s coming out of the closet with the other uber hotness of LQHigh, **L**, has to be the best thing that's happened in the history of the universe.

Except, you know, our fabulous lives as elitist 11th graders will definitely continue to outrank these events in greatness. And believe me, you'll hear it all here first.

Ch'yeah! More to come!

Irvy Kinneas XIII, Gossiper Extraordinaire

**Chapter 1 Part 1**

_**r**'s parents are weeds in his pot garden_

Melinna and Kojiro Akatsuki came from both sides, and suddenly, he was surrounded. Caught off guard by his pathetically gullible and usually relenting parents, Riku rolled his eyes, crossed his arms, and leaned against the stair rail in cocky impatience.

His parents looked nervous. Melinna wrung her hands together and took a deep breath. She tucked her annoyingly fake blond bob behind one ear.

"Riku, we've been hearing some things about your...problems." She hesitated. "You know we love you-"

"Very much," Kojiro cut in.

"-yes, very much, but we can't have these nasty rumours dirtying our name about your...eh...addictions."

Kojiro frowned seriously and Riku scowled at his mother's bluntness. They never cared before, and they shouldn't care now. It made them ridiculously irritating. He sighed.

"Whatever," he said nonchalantly. "Give me more money, and I'll quite weed."

"But dear, that's exactly what we're saying. We're not going to give you money for a while so that you can...break away from it. We don't want people to think lowly of us, you know that."

"Fuck!" Riku's arms dropped to his sides and he frowned impatiently. Typical of his parents: always think of the community first. Yeah-fucking-right. They couldn't even feed him some garbage about how they were scared for his safety? Not as if he cared what they thought, but still: so very, very typical.

He pushed past them with fierce annoyance and slammed the door behind him. Cursing under his breath, he didn't even bother to stop and pick up his not-so-hot-but-still-popular girlfriend Kairi, who saw this and took off after him, calling out to him desperately.

Oh yeah, Kairi. Guys just love the desperate skank act.

Riku instinctively reached into his coat's pocket for a well deserved bong hit then realized it was gone. All of his weed was gone.

How was he going to go through the day without getting a skull splitting headache from listening to Kairi bitch if he wasn't mellow? Suddenly he did feel too sober and very hungry, but no way was he going to go back home to deal with his parents.

And with no money, he couldn't even buy a candy bar or some coffee. Fantastic. Fan-fucking-tastic.

He picked up his pace so that Kairi wouldn't be able to catch up to him. Just you wait, Melinna and Kojiro. Riku Akatsuki does not take lightly to being treated like this. And believe me, Riku Akatsuki has influence. The whole fucking world is literally hanging from a string off Riku Akatsuki's pinky finger.

Okay, sure, but what does Riku Akatsuki do when mommy and daddy suddenly don't want to give him pot money? I bet you can't wait to find out.

**Chapter 1 Part 2**

_**st**'s brother wears her lip gloss better_

She hated it all! 11th grade already sucked so badly. Her boyfriend was already looking at the skankish new girl, Yuffie, and the one solution for poor Selphie's sexual tension was Yuffie's superhot twin brother, Auron, who anyway supposedly didn't even have eyes for her, but her gay brother, Tidus.

She had nothing against homosexuals per se. But when they seemed to be everywhere she went (including in her purse always stealing expensive lip gloss, courtesy of Tidus), she couldn't help but feel very annoyed.

Suddenly she had a burst of unadulterated rage. How dare they? Her shaking hand accidently drew eyeliner way too far out on the corner of her eye, making her look like Cleo-fucking-patra.

She considered starting a new chapter in her life as a Goth, but momentarily came back to her senses as she rubbed the mishap of eyeliner off with Vaseline.

She would much rather have an unfaithful boyfriend and gay love interest and still be super popular than be the village goth whom everybody hates and nobody loves.

Besides, she thought bitterly, the position was already well filled by her best friend Kairi's brother, Sora. The only thing that Sora had going for him was that he didn't wear band shirts.

I mean, really, now. Band shirts? Can you say passé? Even a goth should have enough common sense to steer clear of those.

"Selph, your husband is here. Oh yeah, can I borrow your watermelon bod spray?"

Selphie looked up from applying her lip gloss and glared at her asshole of a non-brother.

"Okay, a) he's not my husband, and b) no you may not. Now kindly fuck the hell off."

Tidus stepped up beside her at her sink despite her, and helped himself to her tweezers. Carefully, he started plucking at the new stubble under his meticulously designed eyebrow.

Rolling her eyes, Selphie left her room, not bothering to tell her brother not to take her perfumes because she knew he would anyway.

"Idiot," she called him quietly once he was out of earshot. "Loser. Faggot."

Then she opened the front door, smiled her cutest smile up at Wakka, and linked their arms in a very don't-any-of-you-dare-touch-my-man manner.

It's so great to be perfect.

**Chapter 1 Part 3**

_**s** tries not to mind the drunk guy asleep on the floor_

"Where the...fuck did that bitch run off to!" Ansem Fukayu yelled at nobody in particular.

His step-son, Sora Nakenawa (who kept his own last name), the brother of "that bitch," Kairi, sulked down the elegant staircase toward a not-so-elegant man.

He was wearing a pink t-shirt that read "ALLEN I. IS A REALLY OLD GUY." His sort-of-normal-at-first-glance jeans were patched with pieces of torn up plaid flannel boxers. He had smoky black clouds deliberately powdered around his eyes, giving him a slightly raccoon-ish appearance. He wore ruby studs in each ear, and had used Kairi's bronzer to slightly darken his face beneath his high cheekbones (was he supposed to use blush? I-don't-think-so.)

Instead of making him look older and more refined (which was the general idea,) he just looked superfly. Either way, delish.

His pouty lips upturned in an arrogant smirk at his handsome and yet so very disgusting stepfather.

"Now that I'm your real dad," Ansem growled in a way too unsober voice, "I think I should have the say on how you look. What are you, a fucking homo? You look like a slut."

Sora shrugged and tried to walk out the door, but Ansem floored him with a drunken fist. His teeth cut a deep gash on the inside of his teeth upon impact, but he didn't say anything. The iron taste of blood bittered his mouth, but he only got up and walked to the hall closet, pulled out the handy made-for-the-situation metal broom handle, and-

SLAM! Instacorpse!

Just kidding. But he was knocked out, and, sighing like it was simply a daily routine to knock his step-dad out cold (which it was,) Sora gently closed the door behind him and started for school.

He didn't spit out the stagnant ocean of blood from his mouth yet; he wanted to save it for in the hallways later, where he would pretend he was deathly ill and "vomit" a gawk-worthy amount of the stuff onto the clean tiled floor. Since losing all his friends, scaring the hell out of people was something Sora had come to enjoy very thoroughly.

Eeeeeyikes. As if he really needed to try any harder.

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**Notes From TT:**

**ALLEN I. IS A REALLY OLD GUY is something that I started yelling at the Detroit Pistons v. Philly 76ers B'ball game yesterday. Yes, I'm a Detroiter, and yes, that's the best thing I could incessantly yell at Allen Iverson. Seriously though, the guy kept falling on his ass. As my friend so cleverly pointed out, the 76ers all played like they were 76 years old. Except Kyle Korver-whoo, talk about deelish! Since when can't white man play ball?**

**Anyway, comments would be loved. They will be cleverly answered in the Irvy Kinneas XIII gossip column under the questions-instead of being in the author's note. Also, I'd love to know if you guys think I did a good job impersonating von Ziegesar. If not, that's fine, I'd also love to be my own version of her.**

**Kay, until next time.**

**Teizontidus (Irvy Kinneas XIII, Gossiper Extraordinaire)**


	2. The Promise

**Lol, 8 reviews is a whole lot for me for the first chapter! Okay, so I decided to write more!**

**Excited? I bet! Or not.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of them...did you think I did? **

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Hey Everyone-Welcome to the Circle of (Mis)Trust.

It's Irv here, for a mini-morning-session. Looks like I got up early enough to speculate a little more. Great!

Replies to comments:

Dear **hikkix2**:

Good to know that you like it. Lol. BTW, so sorry about SoM! I know you reviewed it before, so I'm going to update it soon for you. Unless you don't want to read it anymore! xD

IK

Dear **myredraincoat**:

You live by Philadelphia? Very cool! Glad to know you appreciate your team's players. Gosh, I wish I could see Korver every game I went to! Lol! Anyway, I think that if you like something a little spicy and kind of oh-no-she-didn't, then gossip girl is good. Even if you think you don't, you'd be surprised. Give them a try!

IK

Dear **kmwsweetness**:

Oh definitely. Thanks so much for the comment! Here's some more information about our favorite lovable cast that I know you'll love.

IK

Dear **I Am Foolish**:

Laura, you're so dumb! ROTFBLMAO! Heheh. BTW, no need to destroy me. A certain deserter already took care of that! Now kindly FTHO!

IK

Dear **Monica7725**:

Yup, I finally got to get on the computer. BTW, I just hope that "M" doesn't write fanfiction, too, otherwise I'll have an aneurysm and die.

IK

Dear **Sora Jr**:

You're wonderful! I always wanted reviewers like you. You know just what to say to little ol' me to get me goin on what's been goin' on:) So thanks for your great comment.

IK

Dear **DarkWitch17**:

Faves in authors and stories list! You flatter me! Thanks so much! Anything for the reviewers:hugs very tightly:

IK

Dear **Nhamo**:

WOW, FAVES IN AUTHORS AND STORIES AGAIN! FANTASTIC! Jesus Christ, I think you've won my heart! You're the best!

IK

Dear **SkyeCateren**:

Lol. Thanks for your suggestions. Selphie/Kairi, huh? I'll consider it! Bye Anjou, luv ya! And thanks for the review! xD

IK

AND NOW!

My windows reveal all:

Just saw **R** storming down the street looking very much like death warmed over. And of course, he was followed by **K**, who might have "accidentally" lost control of the effect of gravity on her skirt when a no-name college hottie drove by. Oops.

Around the same time, **ST** and **W** leaving the house looking like a very uncomfortable Hollywood couple trying to hide their breakup from the paparazzi. Remember though, this is me we're talking about-and I can see through all those acts!

Not like it wasn't totally obvious anyway. Even through the foggy window in my lovely room, there was definitely sexual tension revolving around them.

A little afterward, a sickening thud was heard from **S** and **K**'s home, and **S **departing with a little something red leaking from the corner of his very full mouth-strawberries, maybe? Let's just hope.

And then there was **T**, strolling down the sidewalk looking absolutely fabulous. A very chic colour on his lips and surprisingly his eyes weren't sunken in from the commotion last night. Oh, didn't I mention?

It was positively exhilarating! For those of us lame enough to have slept through it, here's the scoop: Our lovable **R** and **T** baked themselves dry last night and went around-get this-planting _whole frozen chickens_ in people's yards, watering them and singing shit-faced nursery rhymes (later described by the still traumatized local old lady piano teacher, **Mrs. S**, as being on a sharp pitch and a horrendous 5 or 6 notes off in the first place.)

Of course, **R**'s parents totally paid off the cops with what could have been like, a billion dollars (ok, exaggeration) but they still looked very, very peeved.

Maybe that's why **R** was in a bad mood this morning. His parents finally did something, you know, parental? Well, I'm sure we'll find out very soon.

Apparently, **T**'s single dad could only come out of the house, looking as shit-faced as his son and a little more confused. Supposedly the only thing that he had to ask was: Did his son successfully grow chicken tree, or did he only manage to get a hard-boiled egg?

Obviously, **T**'s dad is now moved to a happy place. Grandma was seen moving in last night, yarn balls and all. Oh, lordy.

Anyway, gotta go and get my mom to call in our personal doctor to write a note! At this point, we really can't ruin our chances of getting into college with being a little late to homeroom.

Certainly not. This reminds me...I haven't seen **L** or **C** around at all. Maybe they're skipping school together...hee hee. We can only hope!

Irvy Kinneas XIII, Gossiper Extraordinaire

**Chapter 2 Part 1**

_**st** is the wench in a.p. french_

AP French was great. It was like Study Hall, except nobody actually had to study because the teacher, Madame Clairvoya, really couldn't give a chickenshit what her students were up to-as long as they left her alone.

Regardless, Selphie was still sitting silently in her seat and glaring at her nails instead of cavorting with her peers.

She wrinkled her nose down at the horrible sight-her coral pink nail polish was already chipping, and it was all the fault of her very favourite silbling (being her only sibling, she could still hate Tidus' guts and have him be her favourite.)

Supposedly, he had poured all her hard clear nail polish coating into a bowl and basted his cheap jewelry with it to save his wrists from his nickel allergies.

So classic Tidus-just steal stuff in order to be able to continue to look like a cheap slut instead of buying some bloody _gold _to wear.

Honestly, it wasn't as if they lacked the money to buy expensive jewelry! Oh, certainly not. But she secretly suspected that he spent all his allotted money on male prostitutes-not like she was about to ask him. Some things are not meant to be said.

You think?

Selphie scowled as she felt somebody twirl a lock of her hair from the seat behind her.

"Go the fuck _away,_ Wakka."

She sighed impatiently, trying to act impartial to his attention. He leaned closer and blew warm breath onto her neck.

Always sensitive to intimacy, her back shivered and her shoulders jerked up and knocked him in the nose.

"You know you love me, Selph," Wakka sighed, rubbing his nose pitifully. Selphie scoffed.

"Go screw yourself," she said tartly.

He put his thumbs on her shoulders and started to rub gently.

"You know, I totally _would_ if you really wanted."

He seemed to think it was the most endearing thing to say to a girl. Selphie, on the other hand, imagined herself barfing in a port-a-potty.

Um, reality check? Next time, keep your god-fucking-awful pick-up lines to yourself, please!

000

When Madame Clairvoya had finished her half-minute sermonette about past tenses, the class returned to its state of lower brainpower. Tidus walked over to his annoyed favourite sis, and sat backwards in the seat in front of her. He kissed the top of his fingers and playfully bopped her nose.

"Hey babe," he grinned, and Selphie rolled her eyes, unsmiling.

Her nasty brother was violating her privacy again, and she offhandedly noticed the nauseating would-have-smelled-nice-on-anyone-else smell of her expensive perfume emanating off of him.

She gently pushed him back and leaned down in her seat, then sat up again when she noticed a very gorgeous boy walking toward them.

Auron grinned at nobody in particular and slid his decidedly awesome ass onto Selphie's desk, sitting sideways between her and Tidus. He grinned down at her whimsically and she smiled back as genuinely as was possible for her (which isn't saying much.)

Cranking up the pheromone gauge, her lips spread to reveal a glimpse of her perfect white teeth, and she leaned her elegant little chin on her hands propped up by sharp elbows. She turned to look away from Auron and let some of her medium brown hair flit and settle between his knees.

Silently glowing in the idea that he was staring hungrily at the back of her head, Selphie's lips tightened in a smirk. Suddenly, she heard Auron's deep, masculine voice.

"I like your lip gloss," he said with a smile in his voice. Selphie prepared to turn around and bat her eyelashes at him, and when she did, was she ever pleasantly surprised.

Sans the pleasance.

There he was, smiling flirtatiously-at _Tidus_. His hand rested oh-so-casually-on _Tidus_' knee. And obviously now, his comment had been about a _different _set of lips.

What really peeved her was how those other lips looked nearly as fabulous as hers in lip gloss-which happened to be the exact same that she herself was wearing right then-and the ruining factor being that the genetically-similar-to-her-lips lips happened to belong to her mofo brother.

Okay—ew!

She pushed herself up and gritted her teeth together, bear-like. She decided that she'd rather go somewhere else, where there might be a-oh, I don't know-99 chance that she wouldn't feel the urge to heave her 5-times-swallowed gloss.

Of course, near the door, she would have to happen upon Riku and his unwanted lap-dog, Kairi, doing something resembling something she'd heard of or read about-somewhere. Looks like she hit that 1.

Sighing in defeat, she thought about how she hated the fact that Kairi was more popular with guys than she was, and then decided to love herself because she could at least get _most_ of those same guys without having to act like a total, downright, slut.

Uh...right, Selphie. Just keep telling yourself that.

**Chapter 2 Part 2**

_**s** shrugs and deals_

By the time Sora got to school, the taste of his blood was making him gag a little. But he couldn't spit it out yet. He needed the right moment.

He went to his locker, the one that he had all to himself because everyone in the school literally refused to share it with him. As he opened it, he wasn't surprised to find that someone had broken in again.

This time, the rancid smell of sour milk wafted out, and live crickets, at least 30, jumped down out of the locker, scattering past Sora and then to who-knows-where.

Ignoring the blunt hate-statement, he shoved his empty bag into the locker despite the sticky milk dried on the walls and parts of crickets that had gotten stuck in it. When he shut it and turned around, he noticed Riku and his lackeys walking toward him.

From their completely fake and quizzical expressions, Sora could immediately tell that today's prank had been Riku and company, as usual. Their group stopped in front of Sora.

"Hey Tidus," Riku said in amusement as he watched Sora.

"What is it?" Tidus replied, smiling.

"Looks like someone forgot to take a shower...this month."

Riku's little followers all giggled quietly and wore smug grins. Sora only blinked at him as if to say, "Are you done yet?" and their smiles fell.

"Why won't you talk to me? I'm not good enough for you?" Riku mocked dangerously, and the other kids chuckled again. Sora shrugged and gave him another annoyed blink. The taller boy gritted his teeth and scowled. He shoved Sora at the locker and a hollow thud from the lockers came from it.

"Talk. I said, TALK!"

Tidus and the others were smart enough to step back a bit. They knew that, for some reason, Riku always got supremely pissed whenever Sora wouldn't acknowledge him.

Finally, when Sora still refused to open his mouth, Riku shoved his fist into the brunette's gut. At that moment, Sora gagged fiercely and swallowed most of the blood then coughed a lot of it back up, spraying onto Riku's used-to-be-white collared shirt.

Hmm...very attractive!

"Holy _fuck_! Nasty little..."

He stopped for a second and stared at Sora weirdly. Grimacing, he turned away from the maniacally grinning boy and left to get a new shirt. Sora's mouth opened only slightly.

"Traitor," he whispered disdainfully at Riku's back, but not loud enough to be heard.

Tidus and his friends remained for a little, gaping at the psychotic looking brunette. His smirk was wired and showed his teeth, stained brown by stale blood that still was leaking out of the corner of his mouth.

Tidus watched Sora's eyes for a moment then realized just how the electric blue colour contrasted with his dark make-up and pale skin.

They communicated a strong feeling of malice and sick pleasure, but Tidus could've sworn he's seen a well-hidden flicker of regret and nostalgia.

Then he turned, shivering once, and followed Riku. Sora only watched him go, smile slowly falling until it was his normal uncaring pout.

He felt a little bit of bile rise in his throat as he began to taste the old blood more clearly. But he was so, so glad that he hadn't spit it out before.

A good thing will come to those who wait, and boy, had it ever.

**Chapter 2 Part 3**

_**r **realized that times change_

Ding, ding! Everyone shuffled out of their 4th block classes and headed to lunch. Most people were following the general shuffle that went behind Riku, Tidus, Kairi, Wakka, and-oh, you get the fucking point.

Always interested in his victim-of-choice, Riku briefly wondered if Sora would show up to lunch. The usual case was no, of-fucking-course he wasn't, but he was always just a little curious.

_After all, _Tidus thought while looking at his friend, _didn't they used to be, like, best friends?_

"You read my mind, Tidus," Riku said.

Actually, that's what he _would_ have said if he could read minds.

As the Riku-Kairi-Tidus-and-the-rest entourage sat down at the small, exclusive table near the corner of the cafeteria, the other disappointed fan-girls and boys slunk away to their normal tables.

Yeah, as if you guys were going to sit with them. Nice try.

Kairi noticed that her unwilling boyfriend was not eating and didn't look like he was going to. Whenever he didn't eat lunch, she knew something must be terribly wro-oh wait, he never ate lunch.

See, Kairi? This is what happens when you act like a brainless idiot. You _become_ one.

Selphie sat down with her tiny purse and lunch tray, piled high with food. She was part of some retarded, college-application-friendly support program for fighting anorexia and bulimia. Which meant she had to actually follow through for the meek eating-disorder girls that were secretly watching her 24/7 in hopes that she might have the same problems they did.

Of course, of course! And once she was done setting the example, she was going to make a beeline for the bathroom and heave all of those calories right back up.

Tidus glanced at Riku, though, and knew something was wrong. Not because of his eating habits, but because of that weird, distant look in his eyes.

"Hey, are you there?"

Riku looked up and blinked, daze-like. He then realized that he was extremely hungry from lack of a good stoning, and he reached over and took a huge, greasy piece of pizza off Selphie's tray.

Everyone stared in silence. This was the first time they had seen him eat, like, anything. And they all had to admit (even Wakka) that he made it look very sexy.

"Riku..." Tidus blinked and made a weird face then cracked a smile. "What's on your mind?"

Riku put down the half-eaten pizza and pulled his hands across his face. He had just remembered something that had happened at the end of 8th grade. The blonde could only watch his friend get that distant look again, and he sighed and shook his head.

**...At the end of 8th Grade...**

"Sora?" Riku walked around in the empty hallways after school, looking for his friend. "So-ra! Where are you?"

From inside the janitor's closet, normal non-Gothic Sora was sitting with his chin on his knees, staring into the black space. He was hiding from Riku, and when you're hiding you generally don't answer people when they call you. Yeah.

"Sora, godammit, if you don't get your sorry ass out here right now..." He sighed and shook his head. He knew it wasn't any good, because that boy was as stubborn as they come.

So he sat there, still staring into space and trying to ignore the desperate calling of his best friend. It was kind of hard to do, admittedly.

"Sora! Sora! Sora!" Now it had only become something incessant and guaranteed not to work, but he called him anyway.

Then he remembered something: the place that Sora always went when he needed alone time. The place where he had first accidentally met the brunette at the beginning of that year.

Slam! A sudden burst of light blinded Sora and when he could finally see, he saw Riku standing in the doorway, looking very mad and relieved at the same time. He climbed into the closet and sat down, closing the door behind him.

"Why didn't you answer me, huh?" He asked, staring at the black space where Sora was.

"...I dunno. I guess I want to be alone?" He hinted, frowning dubiously.

"Hmm. This is always where you go when you're alone, right?"

"Yup. How did you know?" Sarcasm played at his voice oh-so-slightly.

"C'mon, we have to go to the end-of-the-year party. I didn't want you to miss it."

"I'd rather stay here. You go."

"Why don't you want to go?" Riku frowned.

"Because," the brunette sighed, "I just don't."

Riku relented and just smiled despite himself.

"I remember when you first came to this room," he told Sora.

"You mean, the first time you found me here," he corrected.

"Uhh...right. It was pretty cool, you were like some kind of..."

_Angel?_ Sora thought. _God? Prophet?_

"...mole person, or something. Holed up in here." He chuckled.

"Oh, _thanks_."

"It was kind of depressing that you were in here like that..."

Sora nodded despite the darkness, remembering the time that Riku had first met him in this closet. He had been sobbing quietly, because the whole world seemed to be against him: he was failing transitions mathematics, his girlfriend Selphiebroke up with him, and...his dad had just died.

"Yeah..." he started to feel his eyes get wet, and he silently thanked the darkness for hiding him.

"You said that this is where you go when you feel alone, right?"

Sora sniffed. "Yeah."

"Sora, are you _crying_?"

Sniff. "No."

"..."

"What?"

He chuckled. "Okay, whatever. Well, I was thinking, since you seem to come here so often, I could help you out from now on."

"What?"

"I mean, next time you feel like you should come here, and every time after that, you can count on me following you."

Sora blinked.

"What?"

"Are you going to fucking say anything else?"

"What? I-I mean, um, thanks..." Riku smiled.

"So, at the risk of sounding like a school girl, we're friends forever, right? Sora?"

"..."

"You alive, Mr. Mole?"

Sora laughed. "Friends forever. The best."

"Great." Riku hoisted himself up off the ground. "So let's go to that party, alright?"

Sora stayed grounded.

"...Riku..."

"What now?"

"...that's a promise, right? You promise you'll always be here?"

Riku sighed dramatically.

"Sora, you've got yourself one hell of a fucking promise, so get off your ass and let's go to that fucking party!"

The brunette chuckled and stood up.

"Okay, let's go."

**...End Flashback...**

The bell rang for the end of lunch. Now very curious, Tidus waved his hand in front of Riku's face, and he snapped out of it.

"Wow. Sorry about that, T..."

Tidus shrugged. "It's okay. Are you alright? You look seriously depressed."

Riku shrugged back.

"Must be withdrawal symptoms. Let's just go to class."

"...Okay."

Still a little bit in his own world, Riku stared blankly ahead as he walked to history with Kairi chattering annoyingly and Tidus glancing worriedly at him every 5 seconds.

Whatever happened, he wondered, along the way? At what point did everything turn completely over and everything fell apart? When did he first take a joint from an older kid's hands? When did he first take a girl over to his house for the night for reasons other than some good old fashioned Mario Party? When the _fuck_ did he start torturing his best friend (which resulted in said friend turning into a mofo Goth?)

"Screw it," he sighed, deciding not to care anymore. He was way to exhausted to make an effort-besides, he was happy with his life currently, so why fuck himself up over the past?

Oh, so you're not fucked up right now? Hmmm. News to me.

000

At the time of his history class, Sora was huddled in the janitor closet, poking a dead cricket that smelled sort of like sour milk. He sighed and continued to feel irritated and very, very betrayed.

The janitor's closet was where he always went when he had a class with Riku. He figured that Riku didn't even notice that he was never in class with him. Which made him feel so fucking dumb.

But he kept trying to get Riku to remember that apparently useless thing he had told him way back at the end of 8th grade, and kept returning to the closet. And he'd continue to sit in that closet during those classes until Riku remember his "one hell of a fucking promise."

_God, _Sora thought angrily, _some fucking promise **that** turned out to be._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

**...This chapter was way too involved. Way more than I thought at first. But suddenly I just had this idea and I HAD to put it in. Isn't it depressing?**

**Anyways, Reviews would totally be appreciated!**

**I love you all!**

**Teizontidus (Irvy Kinneas XIII, Gossiper Extraordinaire)**


	3. The Wall

**I have such supportive reviewers! It really makes me very happy when I read your comments and it makes we want to go and write more right away! So last night, I stayed up until 3 AM writing it (in a notebook) and now it's 8 AM and I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, typing it up.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, or you precious reviewers. But I do love you guys a ton!**

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Welcome to the Circle of (Mis)Trust.

Our second day of school is over! And it seems that a lot has happened in just two days. I was just wondering why school started on Thursday, but hey, I'm not complaining! Now it's Saturday, and there's gotta be a ton of stuff to go on today.

Replies to comments:

Dear **Slashapalooza: **

Riku does deserve to be kicked in the shins. You'll find out more about the problems surrounding this promise in this chapter. Thanks so much for the review!

Dear **Foolish One: **

YAY! You gave my story to somebody on Neopets! That's like, uber! Also, I think I was going for a "oh gosh, I'm gonna cry" effect on the last chapter. This chapter, though, is a little less bittersweet and a little more...creepy. o.o

Dear **dancingmistress: **

Definitely. Love ya!

Dear **myredraincoat: **LOL! I giggled at your review. It was a very good idea, but I'm afraid I can't let Riku go to Sora just yet. A little bit of conflict has to occur first. But thanks for your comments!

Dear **stargatherer: **

Awww! And I can't wait for your next review! Thanks.

Dear **lordkagome:**

Unfortunately, no apologies yet in this chapter, but if you're one for a little bit of L/C, there is a funny part about them in here. Be prepared to choke on whatever you're drinking. Lol

Dear **kmwsweetness: **

For you, anything! Lol. You'll find out about the hating-ness of Sora and Riku here. Read on!

Dear **Monica7725: **

You know I already explained that thing about Kairi lol. BTW, get on and go read chapter 9 of SoM! Also, I think I'm going to have to put your wedding in the last chapter because I had an idea for it to be the venue for the ending. As of yet, I have no idea when the end of SoM will be, so whatever. Lol

Dear **Nhamo: **

AWWWWWW Thanks so much::huggles back twice: I love you too! Thanks so much. I'm always so happy when people say so many nice things about my stuff that I don't really deserve. Also, you actually read my mind on the issue of Sora/Riku...I'm not planning on making them start getting together for a few chapters. If you like Leon/Cloud, though, there is the first part about them, and you'll find out where the heck they've been in the first chapters!

Dear **SkyeCateren: **

Why is Tidus an asshole? Tidus is going to be the only person that will actually talk to Sora for a long time here. But of course, Sora's gonna shun him. Hehehe. Just read on.

Dear **blackgate: **

Your review made me soooooooooo gosh darn happy! I love reading reviews like yours cause that's just what I was going for: the sadness factor to the level of making the readers want to cry. I sure did want to cry when I re-read it. So sad! And thanks so much for the fave!

Dear **Ink2: **

Totally understand you. Thanks a lot for the review! Lol

Dear **Raye-Raye: **

Lol! You're the first person to address me by my name! Thanks. Also, the whole thing about Sephiroth...I'll put him in, just for you. Maybe as Riku's uncle like in my other story, or maybe something stranger. Thanks for the suggestion! Love ya!

Dear **MiracleLight: **

Wow, you like, totally read my mind! O.o; That's exactly what I was writing into this chapter, except Sora's not gonna try to use him to make Riku jealous-it'll just happen. Hee hee. Just don't get too scared of Sora in this chapter. He's really not a bad person, ok? Lol thanks!

So here's what I got:

So it's Saturday evening at 11 PM, and everyone's just gotten back from the first party of the year at Pillar. For those of us with no social life whatsoever, that's the place where they hold parties for "minors," even though we totally smuggle in the vodka and hard lemonade. It didn't look like anybody that was really important had more than one drink, which if you think about it, is the safest way to go.

Except, it looked like **W** had a little too much fun there and now **ST** is even more mad at him.

If you don't live out here in **La Q**, then you wouldn't understand how it works, but...people are still walking around in the street. Yeah, I can see them from my window. Everybody except...**L** and **C**. Where the heck have those guys gone?

From **Pillar**, apparently, **R** left a little bit early. He was seen in a bit of a rush trying to push through crowds of dancing people. We think that T went after him, because we didn't see him again after that. **K** was distraught that her **R** had left, for a lot of the evening, until she started dancing with somebody and making out with him on the dancefloor.

Uhh, maybe **K** had a little more than one drink. After the dancing died down a bit and she took her new favourite partner away from the dance floor, she realized it was a girl. **K** was not seen again after that. He he he.

**S **wasn't seen inside **Pillar**, but somebody reported that he was seen stalking around outside the building for a while, and then he went home. I wouldn't know, because I was the center of the party!

And, I'm really tired, too. I mean, I would so be sleeping right now if **W** wasn't pounding on **ST**'s door. I wonder how **T**'s gonna get inside?

I'll let you know when I find out! For now, it's time to blast some music in hopes that I can get to sleep.

More later!

Irvy Kinneas XIII, Gossiper Extraordinaire

Chapter 3 Part 1

_**l** and **c **are in the heat_

"You're such a god damn mother fucking...hot bastard. You're sexy, okay? Quit ignoring me! I said you're fucking..."

Cloud sighed like a drunkard and he fell back in the seat of the convertible. Leon sighed to himself and kept his eyes on the road. Cloud hadn't consumed any alcohol, but Leon knew that he'd have one hell of a time trying to convince anyone of _that_. He tried to imagine himself in that scenario.

o0o

"_But officer,"_ Leon would plead as Cloud drew circles on his neck with his tongue, _"He's never had a drink in his life, honest-to-God!"_

He would stop to shove Cloud off him, who would be giggling like a maniac.

"_The thing is, my friend always gets really ridiculously horny when he's dehydrated for a long time." _

Leon would sigh in frustration as the police man would write them a ticket anyway.

"_I see, son,"_ the officer would say, as if he'd heard the same excuse a hundred times before, _"just make sure your friend doesn't disrupt your driving again. That's pretty dangerous."_

Cloud would hiss at the officer and stroke Leon's ear affectionately, while the brunette would shut his eyes, wishing he'd get transported to the polar ice cap.

o0o

"Yeah," Leon said, "I'm such a fucking genius. Go on a road trip to Las Vegas, through the fucking desert in a convertible, with a guy who turns into a wanton idiot from the heat. So fucking smart."

Cloud let out a loud, bored wail, sounding like he was on drugs.

"Man, I've got this wood," Cloud cracked his neck and pointed to his crotch. "It's really killing me. I'm like soo..."

He lost his train of thought and leaned forward to bang his head against the headboard.

"Oh yeah..." he groaned, "...next time, let's use that really good toothpaste you packed instead of lube, okay?"

Leon felt like slapping the blonde. And not in the way Cloud would have wanted, mind you.

"Cloud, please get a hold of yourself. You're not usually this fucking stupid, remember?"

He sat up again and stared at Leon intently.

"Leon..." he said in a pretty normal voice, and, hopeful, the brunette glanced at him.

"What?"

Cloud grinned. "Let's have phone sex!"

At that moment, he attached himself to the brunette's shoulders, and the car swerved sharply to the right.

"What the fuck are you-? SHIT!"

He almost hit a cactus, and the car spun out a few yards off the road and onto the sand. When it finally stopped, Leon literally kicked Cloud off of him as he found the tires were useless on the sand.

Getting out of the car, Leon pushed at the end of the car, but it wouldn't move.

"Get out of the car and give me a fucking hand!" He yelled gruffly.

Cloud sighed happily and jumped out of the car. But instead of pushing against the back of the car like Leon had intended for him to do, he kneeled in front of him and started undoing the brunette's pants.

"What are you doing!" Leon yelled, and the blonde looked up innocently.

"You said you wanted a hand fuck, didn't you?"

It simply amazed Leon just how fucking stupid Cloud was when he was horny.

"I need help on the car," he explained patiently. The shorter boy nodded and stood up, pushing Leon down onto the head of the car and kissing him unchastely. Leon pushed him off.

"No," he said, calmly. "Let's try this."

He pointed to the car, watching Cloud. "Let's get it on the road."

Cloud frowned. "You want us to get it on, on the highway?"

A little confused, Leon nodded. "Yes..."

The blonde shrugged and smiled. "Sounds kind of dangerous, but fuck, I'm game for anything at this point."

The brunette's eyebrow twitched.

"So..." Cloud continued, "You or me on top this time? Want to flip a coin? Wait, we don't have a coin. Want to flip me? _I call heads_!"

"ARGH! JUST FORGET IT!"

Leon walked away a few feet and stared down the road. He definitely couldn't walk for help, that was for sure. He faced himself then, with two options.

One: Ignore Cloud's advances for 6 hours until nightfall, when his companion could think straight, or

Two: Just give the idiot what he wanted so he'd calm down and they could push the car out.

Option two was obviously the faster choice, but he didn't really want to have sex in the middle of the desert with all the lizards and snakes and who-knows-what-else watching. Option one. Definitely option one.

He heard Cloud sigh and crawl up to him, hugging his legs.

"Let's get married in Vegas, and have a kid. It'd be a pretty fucking sexy little bastard if it were _your_ kid."

Leon only grunted and ran a tired hand through his hair.

Man alive, this was going to be one hell of an afternoon.

**Chapter 3 Part 2**

_**t** learns that curiosity killed the cat_

"Riku, I don't understand why you just don't let me-!"

"Shut up."

"No, listen to me! If _you_ can't deal with him, fine, but I want to und-!"

"Shut your face!"

"RIKU. YOU'RE NOT MY-."

Riku turned and gave Tidus an icy glare.

"No, no, no, and for the fuck-teenth time, NO. Why can't you just let it be like it was last year?"

Tidus frowned back. "I don't know. It just seems there is something more than just bullying going on."

The taller boy scoffed and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, there is. It's a simple four-letter word: hate. I hate him, everything about him. Hate, hate, hate. You can say it, right? Go ahead. No, really. _Tidus_. _Say it_."

The blonde raised his eyebrows. "...hate?"

"Good, that wasn't so fucking hard to understand, now, was it?" They finally reached Riku's house. "And Tidus..."

"Yeah?"

Riku raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "If you ever go near him, I swear I'll punch your pretty little face in." Then he turned and shut the door.

Tidus rolled his eyes and continued down the street until he came to his house and saw Wakka pounding on the door.

"Let me in! Come on, let me IN!"

"FUCK OFF!" He heard a muffled scream on the other side of the door. He silently cursed Selphie for having such an interfering love life.

Since he was obviously not going to get into the house anytime soon, he considered his options. He didn't really feel like going to any of his followers' houses, and he definitely was not going to just walk into Riku's house after that argument.

Then he turned his attention to the house across from his-the Nakenawa home. He shrugged and decided that it was a fair idea to see what Kairi was doing.

Okay, so that was a lie, but that's what he would have told you if you had asked.

Slowly, he ambled up to their driveway and saw Kairi checking the mailbox. She didn't notice him and she took the tall stack of letters. On her way back in, she managed to drop them about 4 times, bending over each time to pick them up in such a way that the...view beneath her skirt could be visible all the way to China.

_Silly bint_, Tidus thought, wondering what anyone saw in her. Then again, he reminded himself, he was gay. Perhaps the secret was only known by straight guys. Oh well.

When Kairi opened the door, a series of loud crashed and a yelp was audible from inside, but she calmly shut the door and went inside. Curious, Tidus snuck over to the window and looked inside.

There was Kairi, walking up the stairs, while her psychotic stepfather was swinging a steak knife around in the family room. And there was Sora, standing dangerously close to the drunken man.

Tidus resisted the urge to yell when the step-dad curled his huge hands around Sora's neck and lifted him up. Sora didn't even struggle. He just watched the man, bored.

The tall, silver-haired man brought the knife to Sora's neck and slowly cut a line down through his shirt until it was split all the way. A positively evil look plastered on his face, the stepfather cut little lines all over Sora's chest, where it looked to Tidus like cuts had been before.

The brunette didn't even flinch. He just existed, looking kind of tired. Finally the dad stopped, and started to yell.

"Stupid little fucker!" He threw Sora at the coffee table, sending him through the glass table top and making a loud crash. He just lay there.

"What, you like the pain? Is it some kind of sick homo turn on? Fucker! You'd be happier _dead_!" He leaned back and held the knife high in his fist.

Tidus wasn't watching anymore. He was running in the front door, and right as the dad was about to shove the knife into Sora's already bloodied body, he did the only thing he could think to do-he grabbed a tennis shoe and hurled it at the man's head.

He spun around, glaring. "Who the fuck are you?"

But before Tidus could answer, Sora had knocked the man out with what looked like a broken broom handle. Both breathing hard from adrenaline, Sora and Tidus stared at each other for a moment before Sora turned and went upstairs, leaving the other boy to wonder how he could move so effortlessly with little pieces of glass under his skin.

Slowly, he followed the brunette up the stairs and into a room that he realized must be Sora's.

The walls were white, and nothing but a bed, lamp, and small black dresser was inside. It had to have been the cleanest room he'd ever seen. The only thing out of place was the wall on the left side of the room. It had tally marks all over it.

Sora was sitting on his bed. "Thanks," he said shortly, and Tidus sighed.

"No problem," the blonde said, "I mean, it's not cool that you'd have died so young."

Sora laughed morbidly, and Tidus felt the hair on his neck rising.

"I don't care if I die young," Sora explained, "but I can't yet. Not until Riku remembers..."

Tidus' well manicured eyebrows shot up.

"What? This is about Riku? Don't tell me you're in love with him?"

He sighed, and Sora laughed hollowly again.

"Don't get excited," he said flatly, "because it's not love. I was betrayed, and I'm just waiting for him to realize it. When he does, he'll suffer slowly. Maybe as slowly as I did."

Trying not to be too bothered by the cryptic comment, Tidus turned his gaze to the tally-mark wall.

"What's that?" He asked quietly.

Sora got up and walked over to it. He slowly ran his fingers over the tallies, smiling only in a way that somebody seriously disturbed can. He shot an apprehensive look at Tidus and smirked.

"This wall reminds me how many times a promise was broken."

He pulled a pen out of his pocked and made another tally at the very end, chuckling.

"It happened again today, see?" He capped the pen and Tidus stared in awe, completely clueless.

"What...promise?"

Sora gave him a "nice-try" look. "I don't think it matters to you," he said bitterly, and Tidus bit his lip.

"Do you know what number it is?"

Sora watched the wall for a bit and turned. "Seven hundred and three just today," he said, almost sounding proud.

"Sora...why did you and Riku start to hate each other?"

Sora shot him an icy glare.

"I think you should leave now," he said gravely.

Ignoring his instinct, Tidus shook his head defiantly.

"Just tell me why! I want to know." Another glare.

"I'm sure you have other places to be," he growled.

Tidus shook his head again and swallowed. Suddenly very angry, Sora reached under his bed pillow, and before Tidus' mind could register what exactly was happening, he was staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Really," Sora said, brow furrowed and eyes flashing dangerously, his finger hugging the gun's trigger suggestively, "it's been a fucking ball, but I couldn't take up any more of your valuable time."

And then, Tidus finally did what he realized he should've done the moment he had seen Kairi on the sidewalk: he ran.

Sora dropped the gun carelessly to the floor, and the port opened as it spun. It was empty.

He fell against the tally-marked wall and started to laugh, and laugh, psychotically, maniacally. All that he understood was that he had successfully avoided having to answer a question he had no answer to.

And that was just so funny to him.

**Chapter 3 Part 3**

_**r** finds a memory_

Riku sighed as he fell onto his bed with the perfect C3: Chips, Cola, and Cookies. His parents had gone out to some all-night party, and he was home alone for the rest of the evening. Opening a bag of chips, he clicked on the TV and flipped to the basketball game.

Offhandedly, he noticed Kairi's dad near the court, looking very grim because his team was behind by 14 points in the 3rd quarter. He sighed in frustration and flipped to a different channel.

There were his parents on channel 42, at a super-exclusive party somewhere, making small talk with big stars and being big-shots. Boring!

On channel 46, Wakka's dad, the star of the city's championship Blitzball team, was giving a press conference to nosy reporters. Kind of would have been interesting to watch, but he wasn't in the mood.

On channel 53, music videos of rock artists, a lot of whom he'd met in person at one party or another. Yawn!

Channel 54: Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.

Riku sighed loudly and turned the TV off. Bye-bye, Puffy AmiYumi!

Decidedly bored, he got off the bed and went back downstairs to the movie closet. They had practically every movie ever on sale (save Barney the Dinosaur and Tele-tubbies.)

Riku yawned as he scanned over all the movies. My Fair Lady...Ivanhoe...Finding Nemo...

Suddenly, a small, dusty tape in the far corner caught his eye. It looked ignored, and he knelt down and picked it up. It had a DIY label sticker on it and he recognized the messy scrawl as his own handwriting. He turned it around in his hand, examining it.

"Don't Lose This!" he had written on the label. He couldn't remember what the tape was, and he figured the thing was years old. Curious, he haphazardly brushed the dust off of the tape and took it upstairs.

He took out his old video camera and connected it to the VCR, sticking in the tape and rewinding it for a minute. Then he sat back and pressed play, picture a little blurry at first, but soon it became clear enough.

**o0o Camera rolling: 1 minute and 15 seconds o0o**

The camera panned around a small, dark room. Suddenly, a light fills the room, and a young, innocent, blue-eyed brunette smiled up at the camera lens.

"Hiya, Riku," he smiled, "what're you doing?"

"I'm documenting," Riku's voice came from the other side of the camera, sounding very official. "It's the first day of spring in our 8th grade year," Riku-voice said for the sake of documenting. The boy grinned happily.

"Next year, we're going to high school," he told the camera. "I hope everything turns out okay."

"Tell me something more interesting," Riku-voice said quickly, and the boy nodded and frowned thoughtfully. Then he blinked.

"Guess what! Since you're documenting our days as 8th graders, for us to watch when we're all 80 years old, I'm gonna say something that I don't ever want to forget, alright?"

"Okay," Riku-voice agreed.

"Okay," the boy repeated, smiling and clutching a piece of stationery to his chest. "Today, I'm going to make a declaration of love!"

The Riku-voice snorted/laughed. "Is that your love note? How cute," he said.

The brunette frowned at the camera cutely. "Don't make fun of me! Otherwise we'll have nothing to look back on when we're old geezers!"

"O-kaay," Riku-voice got impatient. "I have limited battery, you know. Make the most of it!"

The boy smiled again. "Alright. I've liked this girl for a really long time. Today's the day!"

"Tell me about her."

"Hmm. Well, she has purple hair. It's really awesome, actually..."

"Go on," Riku-voice said.

"And she's got really pretty brown eyes. I actually gotta stop myself from staring sometimes..." The boy blushed and looked to the side.

"I think I know who it is. Kura...right?"

"Yup! I'm really really nervous!" The boy frowned intensely at the camera. "These feelings..." he pointed at his heart, "...they're real! Very serious!"

The Riku-voice burst out laughing. "Good for you, Sora! What else?"

"I told you not to make fun of me," Sora whined. "Now I can't bare my soul to the camera anymore."

"Aww...just a little more?" The Riku-voice asked. "It's pretty funny."

Then Sora's hand came onto the lens and the picture went screwy for a moment before it focused on Riku.

"How about _you_ say something interesting, now?" Sora-voice came from the camera, and Riku nodded and sat down.

"I'm pretty nervous, myself," Riku admitted, putting a hand behind his head. The camera focused in and out for a second, showing Sora's inexperience with video cameras.

"What for?" Sora asked, zooming onto Riku's ear on accident, and then zooming out again.

"We've got a big test in math today. I didn't study at all."

Sora-voice laughed dryly. "You're so bad," he said quietly.

Riku suddenly got very close to the camera.

"Sora, I need to tell you something very important..." he whispered, and the camera unfocused and focused again.

"What is it?" Sora-voice whispered back, breathlessly.

Riku stared intensely at the care lens for a while, and a small smile crept up his face, and the camera tumbled to the floor, a blurry picture of the wall.

"RIKU!" Sora's urgent voice was heard amongst thudding and grunting. "Give that back!"

Riku's voice was also audible, laughing hysterically. "Hahahahaha! Hold on, hold on, I gotta see this!"

"Nooooo!" Sora's voice wailed loudly. Riku's voice started to read something in between fits of giggles.

"Dear Kura," he read, and then he struggled for a second. "Hahaha! Dea-Dear Kurahahaa!"

"RIKU! NO! STOP! GET OFF MEEEEE! GIVE-THAT-BACK!" Sora wailed.

"Dear Kura!" Riku said, even louder. "I'm writing this letter to say..."

Suddenly, a loud thud and hysterical laughter.

**o0o Camera Battery Critical. End Taping: 6 minutes 48 seconds o0o**

Riku realized he had been staring at the screen like a zombie for about 5 minutes. How could he have forgotten that? He had been sure, at the time, that that day would always stay on his mind. Sora was the closest friend he had ever had, wasn't he?

He sighed and threw the uneaten bags of chips across the room, then went and lay on his bed.

Why did it seem like Sora was everywhere he looked all of a sudden? It wasn't right. Sora was a loser, he was a faggot, and he was creepy and morbid...

That's what he had been told. That's what those seniors had convinced him of at the beginning of 9th grade.

_So that's what it was_, Riku sighed. _It wasn't really my fault, after all. I was just so naïve..._

He heard a crash and a slam from across the street, and looked out the window. In the darkness, he could see Tidus running exceptionally quickly down the street.

_Hold on...what was I just thinking about? Ugh..._ Riku turned off the light and fell on his face. _Best not to think too hard. I guess it wasn't important..._

Not to Riku, perhaps, but to Sora, the video would have meant the whole world.

**0o0o0o0o0o0**

**Lol. I just felt like writing a bit more. Enjoy! It's a guilty pleasure. I hope you guys liked the Leon/Cloud bit. I felt a little kooky today.**

**Teizontidus (Irvy Kinneas XIII, Gossiper Extraordinaire)**


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